PART III

I SHALL now proceed to select a few of the many scriptures which in my apprehension occupy very hostile positions to offered grace.

The first passage I shall cite is Psalm lxviii. 18. Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive; thou past received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them. These words were spoken by the sweet psalmist of Israel, and quoted by the great apostle of the Gentiles; who with great judgment and accuracy .appropriates the passage to his own subject in order to illustrate and support his own argument. As spoken by David they are the language of prophecy; as used by Paul they are connected with history. What the one spoke prophetically, the other applies historically. David used them in a perspective sense, Paul in a confirmative. And shows

1. That the SPIRITUAL part of Christ's human nature was in heaven before it was on earth. To be certain of the correctness of this idea we need only remark the apostle's observations in verse 9, 10, thrown in by way of parenthesis. This is his language, ("now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended the same also that ascended far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.") Eph. iv. 19. He descended into the Virgin's womb, called the lower parts of the earth, Psalm cxxxix. 15. dwelt in flesh, and was received up to glory. I cannot think the grave can he meant by the lower parts of the earth, because his soul never did descend into that, but rose to glory when the body expired. “To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise," was his dying language to a petitioning thief. But as this thought is not connected with the present enquiry I pass it by.

2. That he received all distributive blessings for his church. Thou hast received gifts for men, even for the rebellious, which seem to denote the whole church of God, whether contemplated in a state of spirituality, depravity, or non-existence. Those of them who are his open foes, have a secret interest in his fullness and union to his person. And though they are enemies to God and its gospel, yet as touching the election they are beloved; for the gifts and calling of God are with­out repentance, Rom. xi. 28, 29. And those who may be ages and ages behind in the great chain of existence will not be forgot : them also must Immanuel bring into natural and spiritual existence, that there may be one fold and one shepherd. The whole church of Christ form one grand chain, let down from the eternal throne into the mighty chasm of moral oblivion, the links of which are discoverable only as they rise to view, and are drawn upon the eminence of spiri­tuality, by the invincible power of omnipotent grace. The whole chain will be lifted out of the muddiest depth of thickening depravity, be washed from its de­filement in efficacious merit, brightened for immortality, and glisten in the overwhelming emanations of un­clouded Majesty. Offering Christ to all mankind will never add another link to the chain, and blessed for ever be our God that it can never destroy one of the very smallest thereof. We shall discuss the propriety of it in another place.

3. That his distributive fullness consist of gifts. °" Thou hast received gifts for men," &c. God the Father `five to his Son all spiritual blessings that they might be supplied as from an overflowing fountain, and thereby be encouraged to come boldly to a throne of grace, that they might obtain mercy, and find grace to help in every time of need." They were given to the head that they might be realized by the body. 'The fullness of the heal contemplated the deficiency of the members, and amply provided those supplies which they would require. In the character of gifts, there­fore, was the church's treasure received by her re­deeming Lord and great Trustee, until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of the glory of his grace. Eph. i. 3-14. 1 'im. i. 9.

4. All those gifts which our treasurer received, mere designed to flow through his merit and death. They were gifts bestowed above blood, but gifts which could reach us, only through the death of Christ. Satan contrived to interrupt by crime the flow of sovereign friendship, and would have sunk in ruin able disgrace the whole church of God, had not her Head and Surety have destroyed his efforts and designs, by removing the great water-break, and clearing away all the obstruc­tions which moral evil had thrown across the stream. He did not, in my view, purchase those gifts, but opened a passage for their conveyance. In other words, he removed the iniquity of the land, and thus opened the stream of mercy, and the kingdom of heaven for all believers. By these remarks I do not intend to impugn the doctrine of purchased blessings; I probably do not understand it; and if not, of course I have taken up very crude notions on the subject. The reader will remember, that in the progress of an enquiry a person is at liberty, and often under the necessity, of stating his doubts and displaying his ignorance. And in commencing this enquiry, it was my design, not. only to investigate the sentiments of others, but to express my doubts, pass my own opinion, and acknowledge my own ignorance. If by purchased blessings, is meant an equivalent paid for them at a full estimation, in the very same sense as the church was purchased; that Immanuel paid for those blessings by commensurate sufferings; that beside expiating the sins of his people he suffered additional torture to procure or purchase their sure mercies, I am constrained to tender my unqualified dissent. The form in which I have contemplated the subject involves so many difficulties and even inconsistencies that I am obliged to differ with some on the subject, with whom I should feel the greatest pleasure in agreeing; and with whom I have the honour of coinciding in many of the most important points of Christian doctrine.

Passing these things, the language of the psalmist which I have cited, and on which I am reasoning, is said to retain an allusion to the practice of conquering heroes, in fastening the captives they had made to their carriages, openly exposing them, and joyfully scattering pieces of silver and gold among the spectators: after­ wards riding in triumph to the fortified city from whence they came, calling to the porter, demanding access, and celebrating their victory. Then is the spoil of a great prey divided.' Isa. xxxiii. 23.

 The Author and Captain of salvation calve from heaven; " what, and if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend where he was before?" " He that ascended is the same also that descended." "Lo I come," was the language of his pre-existent Spirit, " I delight to do thy will, 0 my God; yea, thy law is within my heart. Heb. in the midst of my bowels." Psalm xl. 7, 8. He came to demand deliverance for Jacob, to break their fetters, breathe their liberty, and to bring them out from their prison houses. He fought their foes, and conquered their enemies, was bruised in the conflict, but bled in conquest, expired in triumph, and rose the acknowledged conqueror of men and devils. He struck the decisive blow and laid in humble prostration the combined ar­mies of hell; he tore to shivers the sable emblems of slavery, and hoisting the flag of liberty upon the con­fines of ruin able thralldom, he uttered the everlasting echo, " It is finished!" He loaded his conquering car with spoils from the enemies ground, fettered those who had enslaved his people, and poured the odours of redemption into the regions of bitter servitude. He bound his enemies to his chariot, exposed them to public derision, triumphing over them at his death. He la­vished his riches upon adoring and applauding multitudes, rode in victory from the embattled plains to the celestial courts, and in a conqueror's tone demanded access to glory. The everlasting gates lift up their heads, and the King of glory, with stately majesty and swelling triumphs enter in; bestrews the golden floor with the spoils he took in the day of battle, lives to enjoy the fruit of all his toil, and to reign the monarch of an unlimited empire. He lives to bestow what he ha:; to give, what he will not withhold, and cannot offer.

He left his azure throne,

To bleed in conquest grand ;

He fought the fight alone,

And saved a chosen land

And now lie lives, and now lie reigns,

Through nature's endless vast domains.

The fruit of all his toil,

He scatters on the just;

Divides his glorious spoil,

To his admiring host

And now he lives, and now he pleads,

The sov'r;ign balm of all their needs;

The brightest object of the throng,

The sweetest subject of the song.

If the distribution of spiritual mercies are fairly represented by a general's scattering pieces of money amidst admiring spectators, we shall quickly perceive: the inconsistency of offering, tendering, and pressing spiritual mercies. In giving largess to his soldiers or scattering pieces of silver among his friends, the fol­lowing things are observable, and seem illustrative of spiritual communications.

1. It displays the conqueror's dignity. He doe, not offer, tender, beseech, and entreat people to receive his riches and his spoils, but throws them here and there. They are people whose hearts he has touched, and who are anxious to receive of his abounding mercy . He is found of them that sought him not, Rom. x. 20. Hear him assert his own dignity, “I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me:" I girded thee though thou hast not known me." "Drop down, ye heavens from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness; let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I, the Lord, have created it." Isa. xlv.5-8. Jehovah maintains his dignity while he imparts his grace. He raises groveling worms to himself, without descending to grovel with them. He offers not his gifts to the dead, but scatters them freely among the living.

He does not dwell among the tombs to seek the living among the dead, but reigns among his saints, amidst the living in Jerusalem.

2. The comparison illustrates his. sovereignty. He scatters his favors here and there; one handful in this direction, and another in that. With liberality he has united sovereignty. But offers of grace are opposed to his sovereignty, seeing he is said to die for them all, to offer his salvation to them all, and to wish them all to be saved, yea, even to beseech and in treat them not to damn their souls, but to be ruled by him, and let him save them from the bitter pains of eternal death. Surely offers of grace do but badly illustrate the sove­reignty of divine mercy. How much unlike his own independent language, " I will have mercy on whom I :will have mercy."

3. We are taught by this figure that all our mercies descend to us in the shape of gifts. He gives repent­ance and pardon, Acts v. 35. A heart to know him, Jer. xxiv. 7. His laws into their minds, Heb. viii. 10. Margin, a righteousness to justify them, Acts xiii. 39. " which is to all and upon all them that believe." Roni. iii. 27. In fine, he gives us all things richly to enjoy, 1 Tim. vi. 17. not offer them, to be either accepted or rejected. So that the question may still be put, " who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? and if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou didst not receive it ?" If God has distinguished some from others by sovereign grace, and sovereignty bestows his favours on them. why should such characters glory as if they were not given by sovereignty but offered generally? that they had not received them as favours, but accepted them as offers ? that they were not given independently, but offered conditionally.

 Psalm lxxxiv. 11. The Lord God is a sun and a shield; the Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing will he withhold from them who walk uprightly. The following remarks may be considered as included in the words-­

 1. The Lord God gives grace in connection with glory; so that grace and glory go together. As an act of the divine mind they were given to the church before the world began; both given at one and the same time. But in point of order, grace lies before glory. Grace is given as a principle, before heaven as a place. The place involves the principle, and the principle disclose the place. The principle is in us, that we may be in the place. The principle dispose us for the place, and not the place for the principle. We pass from the prin­ciple to the place, and not from the place to the prin­ciple. Again, we arrive at the place through the prin­ciple, and not at the principle through the place; but wherever the principle is received, the place will be enjoyed. The principle reign in us that we may reign in the place. But how can the principle be offered? If it is offered it can never be received, because prin­ciple must precede action. To offer the principle of life to a dead body, provided the body will perform certain actions in a voluntary manner, is a sure way to abuse the understanding, and to claim the privilege of being thought ridiculous. Had the principle of life been only offered to Adam, he would never have had a posterity to ruin and undo; but God breathed into him the breath of life, and he became a living soul. The principle was introduced before animation was observed.

 2. We may understand the language more compre­hensively. This grace includes every covenant blessing. In the soul it is one principle displaying itself in many different forms; faith, hope, love, joy, patience, &c- all spring from one principle, and are different combinations of spiritual excitement, designated by certain charac­ters, which. are adapted to point out their different rela­tions. So in the divine Being, it is favour springing from affection, or his goodwill represented in endless forms and in endless combinations. Election, adoption, jus­tification, pardon, peace, &c. are so many distinct acts of grace, or grace acting in so many modifications. As a prolific principle shews itself in a variety of forms, present new associations, new harmonies and new beau­ties ; so divine grace is the prolific principle of all spiritual mercies ; and hence we read of a the exceeding riches of his grace." Eph. ii. 7.-" the election of grace," Rom. xi. 5.-and of being predestinated to the adoption of children by Christ Jesus, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace: and of having redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace," Eph. i. 5--8.-of " believing through grace," Acts xviii. 17.-of being called " not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, 2 Tim. i. 9.-of " being justified freely by his grace," Rom. iii. 24.-of " singing with grace in the heart," Col. iii. 16.-of " everlasting consolation and a good hope through grace," 2 Thes. ii. 16.-of " fellow heirs of the grace of life," 1 Pet. iii. 7.-of " standing in grace," Rom. v. 2.-of abundant grace, reigning grace, &c. A view of these things made the apostle call him " the God of all grace," 1 Pet. v. 10.

 Now, what I have to observe is this, if grace is offered at all, it must be offered in all its acts and mo­difications; because it is impossible to separate grace from its acts, or its acts from one another. The same grace that regenerates a sinner elected that sinner be­fore the world began ; so that in offering grace or in­viting sinners to believe, is offering to elect them, and predestinate them, as well as to regenerate, &c. which seem extremely absurd. Allow grace to be given, and those absurdities vanish, because regeneration is the fruit of election. To suppose that God will ever bestow the grace of repentance, faith, hope, &c. where he has neither elected nor adopted, is to think without restraint, and to reason without a rule. God has joined them together, and what he has joined let no man attempt to put asunder.

 3. This language points out the unconditional nature of divine grace. "He will give grace and glory." He will not offer it, but he will give it. No conditions are annexed, no pre-requisites required, for he will give it. No worthiness is demanded, for he gives it. The pennyless need not despond, for he gives it. No cold offers shall be made, for it runs warm from his heart ; he gives it. No recompense can be made, no tittle can be done, because he will give it. This may sting a proud Armenian, and make self-justiciaries run wild, yet never­theless he will give it. It is his settled and fixed deter­mination. "The Lord hath purposed, and who shall disannul it?" Isaiah xiv. 27. These, no doubt, are un­welcome truths to those who are whole and sound; to those robed in the drapery of delusion, and sheltered in the cobwebs of frail morality ; but they will ever be glad tidings to the naked, helpless, and undone, who are the only people that need them; "for the whole need not a physician, but they that are sick." But though the people rage, and imagine vain things, he will never deviate from his plans; he will give grace and glory. Now if he will give it freely, how can he offer it conditionally? Can a free gift and a conditional offer, be but one and the same thing?-If he offers a part of grace, provided they will exercise another part in the form of faith and repentance?-If he will not even offer grace, except they repent and believe ; (for on these conditions the offers are made,) how then can grace be free? How can he give it ? If he will not part with it only on certain conditions he must stipulate for it, at least so I should think. But if he will give it, he can­not stipulate for it; " otherwise, grace is no more grace, or work is no more work:" and the distinction between grace and works, though founded on practical ideas, must nevertheless be destroyed. I pass on to notice,

 Psalm cx. 3. " Thy people shall he willing in the day of thy power." From these words it seem obvious,

 1. That the Lord Jesus Christ has a people. To say that they are his by gift, acceptance, marriage, purchase, conquest, surrender, confession, &c. would convey but little information, seeing they are ideas gene­rally understood.

 2. His people, by nature, are opposed to his govern­ment and grace. They will not submit to his sceptre, nor seek refuge in his cross. They have neither the will, nor the ability; not the former, because that is denied in the verse we are noticing; not the latter, for they are without strength, Rom. v. 6. which must be understood of spiritual and not corporeal strength.

3. That they possess hostile feeling towards spiritual things. They are not only without strength, but un­godly; a for the carnal mind is enmity against God; it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Rom. viii. 7. They go about to establish their own righteousness, though not always of the very best quality; and though they may sometimes have their buildings deranged and destroyed, yet they soon concert other plans, and combine new materials, saying, in the pride of their hearts, the bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones; the sycamores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars, Isa. ix. 9, 10. we will be more strong and elegant than ever. Alas for them, they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge. They " call evil good, and good evil ; they put darkness for light, and light for darkness; bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter; being wise in their own yes, and prudent in their own sight." Isaiah v. 20, 21.

 4. That the Redeemer's power is necessary to their regeneration. This is fairly implied in the words, and is called by the apostle, " the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe," Eph. i. 19. To break their rocky hearts, to slay their enmity, conquer their prejudices, and destroy their strong holds, there must be power. If he gives them a new heart, enlist their affections, guide their wills, and fire their bosoms in his cause, there must be power. If they forsake the infernal corps, and volunteer in Immanuel's service, as the words are said to signify, there must be power. If they leave all and follow him; if they forget their own people, and their father's house, to go after him in a land that is not sown, we hesitate not to say it must be by the exercise of divine power.

 5. This power cannot be resisted. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. The word day being an adverb of time may denote either the gospel dispensation, or the period of a sinner's conversion to God. Called a day, for its light, heat, superiority, &c. such is the gospel dispensation, and such is the period of a sinner's regeneration. No force can resist this power because it is omnipotent. If Matthew is bid to follow him, he forsakes all and obey. If Zaccheus is ordered down from the tree he is quickly seen upon the ground, Luke xix. 6. ` The stoutest rebel must resign, at his victorious word.' Yet no violence is done to the will, for it charms while it conquers. Zaccheus received him joyfully; salvation was come to his soul as well as to his house; and he stood forth and said, " behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor: and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold." Power is put forth, and a union is both formed and felt, for he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit, 1 Cor. vi. 17. " There is a taking hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew," Zech. viii. 23. And when this is the case there will be a cleaving unto him with purpose of heart. Their language will be something like this:­

 Through Through floods and flames if Jesus leads

“I'll follow where he goes ;

“Hinder me not shall be my cry,

" Though earth and hell oppose."

The reader perhaps can recollect, with mingled feelings of pleasure and regret, when language like this thrilled through his veins, warmed his heart and glowed like a live coal upon his lips. Yes, he recollects those thrice precious seasons,

" Sweet was the work, my God my King,

" To praise thy name give thanks and sing;

" To spew thy praise by morning light,

" And talk of all thy truths at night."

But perhaps he is now called to weep at the remembrance of folly, to cry, my leanness, my leanness, and to mourn an absent God. He thinks upon his past enjoyments, “ but, ah ! the happy hours are fled.' His Bethels are but seldom.

“Like angel visits few and far between.”

He must remember that light is sown for the righteous and joy for the upright in heart. So that though sorrow may endure for a night, joy cometh in the morning. But where am I got to! the reader must excuse this digression; feeling have been allowed to guide my thoughts, and as is mostly the case, have led them as a monkey leads a bear-in the most zig­ zag direction imaginable. Sober judgment must again grasp the reins and guide our

5th. Observation, which is as follows, this power will be exercised towards none but his people. It is thy people that shall be willing. Divine power is often represented in a very emphatical manner as relating to God's people. Thus in Zech. x. 8, " I will hiss for them and gather them." He would call them by the musical voice of the gospel as a shepherd calls together his flock by his pipe or whistle. Again, Isaiah xliii. 6, "I will say to the north give up, and to the south, keep not back : bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth." This is ex­ercising his power in behalf of his people, and they, and they only, will be brought into his house to be beautified with salvation. They are his by purpose, purchase, and power. Purpose looked forward to pur­chase and power, purchase looked backwards to purpose, and forwards to power. His power stands in his pur­chase; for he is no more powerful than meritorious. It is not simple power that is intended, but power united with merit. Sovereignty guided his purpose, purpose his purchase, and purchase directs his power. They act in mutual conjunction with each other. These are sound ideas militating against almost every error, and I am determined never to give them up, until they are proved by sound reason to be erroneous. The manner in which divine power operates against the doctrine of offered mercy is this: It shows that man is without strength; that divine power will be put forth only in behalf of his own people; that the time of their conversion rests with God, is fixed in his purpose, and developed in his own good time. Offers of grace supposes that scan has the ability at all times to accept the offers, which is, effectually to save himself; or if any divine power is necessary it is offered alike to all, so that they all may have it if they will but ask for it;­ that the time of their conversion rests with themselves and not with God. For if sinners have power to comply with the offers at one time I should think they must at another. If they have had salvation tendered to them time after time, year after year, before they receive those tenders, it will not be said that they could not have been converted sooner, had they have chosen thus to have done; and if so the time of their being brought out of darkness into marvelous light rests entirely with themselves, and in fact is virtually effected by them. To deny this is to destroy the notion of offered grace, and to plead for it, is to overthrow the independent government and free grace of Jehovah. Here then is another dilemma in which the advocates for offered grace are necessarily involved. They may take which side they please, but a neutral position cannot be obtained.

 But, I said how shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant and goodly heritage among the nations and I said thou shalt call me my Father, and shall not turn away front me.

 Without staying to collect the different opinions re­specting this passage, I will briefly state my own. The gentiles are here called a host of nations, or the militia of all nations, as some choose to read the words, and are so called for their multitude, order, courage, and conflict. They are his children attired in princely ap­parel, equipped in spiritual Armour, marshalled round his standard, bearing the ensign of salvation into the enemies' camp, and manifesting an hostile feeling against the world, the flesh, and the devil. And so glorious is their cause, so brilliant their arms, so firm their allegiance and order, and so formidable to their enemies, that they are said to look forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners. Song vi. 10. Now the question is, how God could put the Jews among the gentiles ? The Jews must be gathered to the fullness of the gentiles, but how can it be accomplished? what plans can be adopted ? what measures can be employed? how can the desirable end be obtained? by what means can they be made to partake of the root and fatness of the olive tree ? Some have said oh! do but give us your money and we will convert the world. Amiable men! eloquent speakers ! saviours of man­kind! Can any class of men, be so ungracious as to refuse their mite; so ungenerous as to give a scanty pittance; yea, so unfeeling as not to give their whole substance? or are they so incredulous as to question such statements ? or do they want to see specimens of your ability in a smaller type? Perhaps they would like to have practical proofs of your capacity to break millstones with a feather, or melt pebbles into syrup by the instrumen­tality of a blow-pipe, before you commenced your operations upon the heart, to break it in pieces and to convert into a gracious consistence. But how is it to be effected ? by a universal tender of salvation ? no. By telling them that Jesus Christ died for all mankind, but that they must save themselves by him, or that though he died for all mankind, only a part will be saved, and that in fact they must save themselves, or at least be the means of their own salvation? certainly not: is it then to be achieved by a general system of ethics? or a universal code of practical morality? or the grand communion of religious creeds? impossible. In Britain it requires omnipotence practically applied to make man a new creature in Jesus Christ. And not with­ standing the plumes with which he has been adorned, and the encircling wreath which have been placed upon his brow, he is every where the same. A world in miniature ; agitated by the confluence of his own elements, and destroyed by his own principles. Fleeting as the morning cloud, and transient as the dew; he rises and falls with the passing wind. As lawless and un­certain as air, as turbulent as the ocean, and as furious as devouring flames. His heart is as hollow as the tomb, as hard as the rock, and as deceitful as an eastern brook. ' A thick skinned monster of the mire and the ooze, which no dart can penetrate, no discipline can tame.' They err, says a sensible writer,' who place him beyond the confines of the whirlpool.' As well might you attempt to endow vegetation with sense and brutes with reason, as to make unregenerate lifeless persons, alive unto God and wise unto salvation-to swell a rising spark into a rolling star, or change a man into an angel, or an angel into God. When these trifles are accomplished men may listen with serious­ness to such propositions, or to such declamation. The proverb is, first creep and then go. If no man was converted to God till offers of grace converted him, not a solitary individual would ever be converted. By such a scheme no flesh living could be saved; but for the elect's sake God has given them salvation in absolute forms; and by his grace calls them to the enjoyment of it through Christ. This is the plan which God has devised and not man; he has impressed it with his own initials, and stamped upon it the signatures of divine perfection. This plan affords in its principle an am­plitude of security for the conclusion. It is the Lord's doing and is marvelous in oar eyes. This plan is founded upon the principles of free grace and divine agency. " I said, thou shalt call me Father," &c. Mark the sure plan on which God acts; it is, I said, and thou shalt. God's sayings are united with the creature's doings. The former gives birth to the latter, and as spiritual excitement is produced by divine agency, there can be no mi„ take nor no miscarry. The principles of the plan provide the measures, protect the progress, and ensures the crowning end.

 In eternity Jehovah formed a spiritual relation of men to himself, and in tine he manifests the secret of that relation by his Spirit's unerring testimony and secret influence, which  worketh in them mightily.' " Because ye are sons God bath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." Gal. iv. 6. or Father, Father; which marks the frequency and fervency of their cry. Son-ship before faith accounts for the discriminating nature of saving faith in the gospel. The reason why one person, and not another has faith, is because one is a son and the other is not. His saints are brought into his church, not to make them sons, but to manifest their son-ship by filial obedience. And to maintain their standing he puts his laws into their hearts, and says, 'thou shalt not depart from me.' Persons may be coerced into church fellowship, but that will not alter their con­dition, enable them to produce spiritual fruit, nor give them any lot among all them that are sanctified. Goats may be washed in the same pool with the sheep, and at the same time, but that will never cause wool to grow upon their backs. They may graze in the same pasture and lodge in the same fold, but that will not make them sheep. They may be dressed in sheep's clothing but that will not alter their nature, and they will be identified as goats whenever they are stripped of their false covering. The assumption of appear­ance may have its effect, but they will die in the character in which they were born. I write not these things to discourage any individual from pursuing the path of duty, but to show the uselessness of prose­lytism, and the ineffectual nature of offered grace. Offering grace to all mankind, cannot enlarge the fold nor diminish the number of goats. It cannot reclaim the sheep, much more turn goats into sheep. Things must remain as they are fixed, let people say what they will. Grace omnipotent and operative, must and do' begin, carry on, and crown the sinner's salvation. He must in cheerful mood confess, that, to grace he owes his conversion and perseverance, and that to grace he is looking to complete what it has begun.

“Grace taught my heart to pray,

And made my lips, 'erflow:

'Tis grace that kept me 'till this day

And will not let me go.

"Grace all the work shall crown

Through everlasting days,

It lays in heaven the topmost stone,

And well deserve, the praise."

 I have only to add, that some understand this passage as referring to the heavenly state. To this sense I am not averse, though I think the thousand years reign of Christ seem more agreeable. His people will then be a host of nations, gathered out of every tribe and nation under heaven. They will in a very eminent sense, be the land of desire, and the heritage of glory, as some read the words. Or the heritage of God the Omnipotent Governor of the nations, as the LXX. But they could never be brought into the church above, by offers of grace and tenders of mercy made to them below. I said thou shall call me Father. “Shall he not from this time be called my Father, the guide of my youth?" Jer. iii. 4. Blessed for ever be his name, he has the plan of sovereign salvation in his own hands. He formed it without help, carries it on with­out assistance, and will complete it without alteration. It is a plan free from defection, pursued without difficuity, and will guide him to the close of his operations without a supplement. It is not shaded by perplexity, embarrassed by inconsistency, nor defeated in uncer­tainty. It sprang from his love, is nurtured by his blood, and executed by his Omnipotent strength. No foe  can destroy it, nor no friend can improve it. It involves the dissolution of a thousand other plans, a thousand empires, and perhaps a thousand worlds; out as for itself, it is as interminable as his throne, anal remain compact and united should all creation be dis­jointed, and nature lay stretched in ruins before the eternal throne.

 Jer. xv. 19. If thou shalt take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth. Let them return unto thee, but return not thou unto then.

In whatever light these words are contemplated, they must convey the idea of discrimination. By the phrase precious and vile we may understand,

 1. Truth and error.

Truth is precious seed, Psalm cxxvi. 6. and precious food, Isaiah Iv. 2, 3. There is the truth of a Trinity of Persons in the Godhead absolute and eternal election, the everlasting covenant of grace, the head­ship of Christ, the secret union of the church to her glorious head-her redemption -- pardon --. Justification -- perseverance and glorification. Lo, these are parts of his truth, but how small a portion of them are heard. Now these are to be separated from erroneous notions; such as conditional election –no union before faith --particular redemption with a uni­versal sufficiency --offering Christ to all when he has only died for some --inviting all to come, when they have no capacity to receive, no desire for spiritual things, nor no interest in them-were never elected, represented, nor redeemed by Christ Jesus --will never be called, pardoned, justified, nor saved. These things, like chaff, are light, volatile, dry, and destitute of nutri­ment; and are no more like the pure, precious, sub­stantial, and soul-enriching doctrines of the bible, than the despicable chaff is like the precious grain. They are the vile notions which Pelagius, Arminius, and Wesley have openly vindicated; and others long before them. Error is as light and changeable as the wind, but truth is as solid and immutable as a rock. You can never succeed in getting a transcript of error, for its features are not to be copied. As well might you attempt to paint the camelion of yesterday by the camelion of today; or to detain a flash of lightning for half an hour in order to take its portrait in full length; or to request Proteus to stand, until with mallet and chisel you personified immutability. It is airy and flippant, hopping from one proposition to another, till it perches itself upon conclusions-conclusions as frail, as the principles are false, or the notions are airy. In our Lord's day error was chiefly defended by a sect of people called Pharisees; but their notions became so exposed, that the sect has long since dis­appeared. There are no Pharisees now, though there are thousands of people who adhere to the same things, in different forms. The word Pharisee, was not descriptive of sentiments entertained, but of an appellation assumed. It did not point out a theological error, but referred to a religious character, just in the same manner Pelagian, Arminian, Wesleyan, &c. define no system, nor point out any untruth, but are used in an exclusive sense to designate certain individuals. Many persons object to the phrase Arminians, &c. choosing rather to use the words, scribes, and Pharisees. What can this be but temporizing? Suppose that in the year 4000 instead of 1729 a person by the name of John Wesley had come from under some of the famous doctors of the law, and by austerity, assiduity and craft, he succeeded in attracting public attention and making proselytes to his new religion; suppose also that by a regular mode of living, and high-sounding pretensions to morality, they acquired the name of Methodists; and the followers of Master John were sometimes called Wesleyans and sometimes Methodists, of which appellations they were extremely proud them­selves; query, would not our Lord have addressed them by the name of either Wesleyans or Methodists? or would he have preferred designating them by an appel­lation, monopolized by a professing sect in the religious days of Enoch? but which sect was swept away by the flood, as the Pharisees were destroyed by the over­throw of Jerusalem? and would the Pharisees have considered themselves to have been identified by the appellation, or to fall within the scope of its meaning? Certainly not. And suppose further that we had in the present day a sect of people called and known by the name of Pharisees, which held for substance exactly the same doctrines that the Wesleyans did in the days of Christ, would it be wrong to call them Pharisees, because there existed Wesleyan in the day of Christ, who fell under his censure and displeasure? I cannot see why it should be thought either abusive or rude, to call men and things by their proper names. Every party have their name, and are proud of their respective appellations. Talk to an Arminian about Pharisees and the censures which our Lord passed upon them, and he will not be offended. I am not a Pharisee he will say to himself. But serve the noble system as you examine the stately animal, in order to see if you could identify it as the same that was in such a place and at such a time-divest it of its cumbrous trappings, and examine it in simple style. Divest Wesieyanism or Methodism of all its varnish and tinsel; reduce to simple order the complicated plaits of phraseology ; remove the patches and feathers of millinery by which it is adorned ; tear away the illusive sophims by which it is festooned ; strip it of all detail to examine its principles, and then show by conclusive reasoning that the principles of both systems arc the same, --that Jesus Christ addressed those that held such sentiments in popular terms, and that had John Wesley, or Mr. Arminius lived in those days, he would have described them and their followers by names which could not well have been misunderstood. No doubt he would have called them by their proper names as he did the Pharisees. And when a man in holy orders as­cends his observatory, and espy a person of high sentiment among his practical flock, he is not afraid to cry vile antinomianism, nor ever dream of in­curring a penalty by raising such an alarm. Or if his hearers should be free from such obnoxious things and pestilential beings, be can easily conjure up their shadows, in order to let his hearers see what a fund, of pugilistic science he possess, how expertly he can lay them in the dust. If his holy zeal and fruitful imagination should happen to teem from his pen, he depicts it as destitute of features --a mere mass of hideous, shapeless, member less deformity: an abortion; a monster without sense, or soul, or symmetry; an animated when: a blind but virulent excrescence composed of the worst humours of a corrupt impostor, ­heautiful Babel of figures - demonical disturber --­fostered by perversions of scripture and indulgent to human depravity, as beginning by libelling God' and ending in corrupting man, --without intellect or feeling, or the capacity of benevolent desire --surveying the wreck of the reprobate with savage satisfaction; --­abusing an eternal truth, and subsisting by an eternal lie-monster of perversion, and series of absurdity­ – anti-evangelical enormity --a mass of moral and intel­lectual putridity-destroying benevolence avid virtuous enthusiasm by its contaminating touch. As ridiculing reason --hating imagination --despising elegance, and counting eloquence, heresy; contemplating taste, learning and extensive acquirements as unpardonable sins, antinomian pestilence --the very vampire of a church -- destroying the usefulness and comfort of some of the best of men-exciting dissatisfaction—suspected of persecuting its victim to death, more than once­secretly sucking the vital element of ministerial repu­tation and congregational purity, until with murderous malignity it succeed in completing its sanguinary purpose. Poisoning the very fountain of morals --an error not of the head but heart-having a tendency to destroy the fear of sin, and which is unblushingly avowed by some of its advocates --a set of bold and sometimes blasphemous opinions, repugnant alike to the natural and revealed character of the Deity; hostile equally to the holiness of earth and heaven; tending to destroy moral sensibility and moral resistance, betraying the very opposite feeling to those by which a mind is either guided to the search, or assisted in the discovery, or governed in the profession of the truth. Contemptuous, dogmatically, and impertinent-despising the calm sobriety of scriptural instruction, the virtuous faith­fulness of practical appeals, the benevolent solicitude of the heralds of mercy, in the church or out of it, Antinomianism is the same, equally "full of all su1­tilty and mischief" -" the foe of all righteousness.''­*

 * This quotation is from an extract of Mr. Binney's Memoir of the Rev. Stephen Morell,' by the Reviewers of the New Evangelical Magazine, for June, 1827. If I am not very much mistaken, this is the Same Mr. Binney that once resided at Bedford, whom the reader will perhaps excuse my observing I once heard; but whom, from his dry formality, stiffness, consequence, and sickening self-importance, I hope never to be condemned to hear again, -at least, not without a pledge of canceling all the errata's of human frailty by such an act of penance. As Mr. Binney has thought proper to revile some Antinomian preacher in the West of England, no matter who, the reader will forgave my introducing the following curious anecdote. Feeling, while at Bedford, an inclination to hear one of Mr. B.'s weekly lectures, I permitted myself to be guided into the assembly room, for to say “house of prayer” would be a viola­tion, not only of propriety of language, but of accuracy of idea, and would almost amount to a positive proof of mental alienation. Mr. B. lectured upon the attributes of Deity, and seems to have paid no small attention to an odd enumeration of words of the same termination.' Possessing considerable volubility, the fugitive moments flitted away before the sub­ject could be finished. It was therefore necessary to leave what remained behind, in a state of abeyance “for one week;” and that his hearers might anticipate the future, as well as admire the latter, Mr. B. deemed it ex­pedient to state the leading ideas of the future discourse; --when, Lo! the following comic scene took place. ' I shall treat,' said Mr. B. of his immutability, durability,-(and another which he had forgot)­ ham!-Immutability, durability,-ham, ham!-Immutability, dura­bility,-ham, ham, ham!- (loud and confused!) -Really, ladies and gentlemen, I must beg your pardon-I cannot recollect the other idea; (i. e. the other ilily) but I will endeavour to think of it next week.' Whether Mr. B. succeeded in apprehending and exposing the noble vagrant,' I cannot inform the reader, as I never afterwards visited the interior of his lecture-room. Now as I am no Antinomian, I of course, do not fall within the scope of Mr. B.'s abusive language; and in relating the above anecdote, I have only met him in his own style. The reviewer thought Mr. B. ' an admirable painter;' he is certainly a strong one, and seems to dip his pencil very warily in water colours. I presume it is what connossieurs would call, a strong expression. But, query, can the sagacious reviewer be identified with connossieurs ? Mr. B. says, Anti­nomianism has no FORM, nor no IMAGE, of which one can catch a con­sistent conception. Now if it has no form nor features, must not Mr. B. have a genius perfectly unique, to take a likeness of which he never caught a consistent view? And must not the reviewer be a very admirable judge, in concluding that Mr. B. is an admirable painter? And was it not a very admirable question to ask, in the language of Cowper, 'Behold the picture -is it like?' Like what ? Why a thing that has no form, nor no feature-something that is invisible; -something that was never seen, but is said to have no image nor feature: -all which are admirably de­picted by Mr. B.! ! ! The reviewer might well prefix a note of admira­tion to his interrogation, for how are we to compare a picture with what was never seen ? and what, from the description given, never will be dis­covered by mortal eyes? The whole must be truly admirable; and one hardly know which to admire most, the painter's genius, or the review­er's sagacity; not knowing whether this or that is entitled to the meed, or whether they both may prove alike glorious. After all, the reviewer could not be serious, any more than Mr. B. could be sane; he must (I think) in­tend it as a sly sarcasm for I really cannot believe that there exist any such people as Mr. B. talks about. The picture seems to be got up in kindred style and type wih Foot's farce of the Minor, alias, Minor farce; and with Bickerstaff's comedy of the Hypocrite, alias, Hypocritical-comedy. What a pity that Mr. B. and a few others can think of nothing more profitable ! and how lamentable to recognize in them the same lying spirit that influenced Foot, Bickerstaff, and others of the same stamp ! If streams can be so filthy, what must be the state of the ocean? Mr. Binney's mind must be like a whirlpool of mud, or such noxious streams could never proceed there from. "Out of the heart proceedeth," &c. I cannot refrain from thinking that such a thing as Mr. Binney talks about, is something like John Wesley's perfection, an imaginary phan­tom. But should there be any thing like the picture, it is hoped the picture and that too, will soon find their way into the muddiest depths of eternal oblivion, and that with a velocity proportioned to their gravi­tating properties. It is to be hoped there is some merciful chasm, large enough to receive it, deep enough to bury it, and strong enough to retain it in everlasting darkness.

I do not mean to justify abuseful language, nor have I quoted the above because I approve of it, but to show that some people are copiously discriminating when Antinomianism is to be the subject of exposure. But if the chaff of Antinomianism is to be expelled from the pure grain, why should Arminianism be allowed to continue among the precious seed? Offers of grace and general invitations, are things quite as chaffy as Antinomianism. To contend for offered mercy and indiscriminate allurements, and yet deny Arminianism, is like contending for consequences without a cause, or denying a fact while the details are strenuously pleaded for. I do not say that where offers of grace, &c. are made, the gospel is not preached, but I do affirm that the gospel is not preached while offers and overtures are made to the congregation. And from my know­ledge of sermons which I have seen and heard, there is but a precious little of the gospel in a great many discourses. There is a very great odds in the quantity of chaff and wheat, as after the ratio of a bushel of chaff to a single grain of corn. But what is the chaff to the wheat, saith the Lord?

It is frequently remarked that certain persons preach the gospel, but not all the gospel; i. e. because they do not offer generally what God has thought well to give sovereignty. As if an ambassador could not declare the sovereign designs of his monarch, to a land of guilty and offending traitors, without making an offer of sove­reign favours to every individual; though the favours were only to be given to certain persons whose features were well described by the king himself! ! or as if a farmer could not sow his grain, and sow all of it too, without sowing the chaff also. An agriculturist ought to make up his mind to have his theory of germination ridiculed, was he to contend, that not only was it neces­sary to sow chaff with the grain in order to deposit all the latter, but that it was also necessary to germinate the same; and that the cause of so many failures in the crop was not owing to the want of sun, rain, wind, &c. but was to be attributed to not sowing chaff with the wheat. But what is the chaff to the wheat, saith the Lord? Was such a systematic as we have been describing, to favour the public with practical elucida­tions of his theory, a person would feel that he was entitled to curl the corners of his lips, when he saw Mr. Wiseacre encountering a brisk gale of wind, and witnessing the lawless chaff, instead of descending in a mathematical curve to the needy soil plugging in pro­voking caprice about the poor theorist; endangering his eves while it supplied his mouth in rich profusion. And this would unquestionably he the case; for what is the chaff to the wind. This is a case parallel in principle, and will bear examining. However silly people may talk about religious things, they mostly dis­play common sagacity, and sometimes a little more in their civil transactions. What a pity that they should not examine the lesser to be informed of the greater. " Go to the ant, thou sluggard, says Solomon, consider her ways and be wise;" and we might say, go to the man of practical understanding, thou simpleton, mark his plans, his measures and his proceedings-consider his ways and be wise.

 2. Should character be designed rather than doctrine in the words, the inference is entirely repugnant to offered grace, for that blend and confuse them. But grace given in sovereignty through Jesus Christ, and belong­ing exclusively to the elect, will always keep up a distinction of character whenever it is preached. Adhere to obligation arising out of relation, and discrimination of character must be preserved. But there can be no separating of the precious from the vile, if general invitations and general offers are made. How can a preacher be as God's mouth when he offers to all, what God intends to give to some only? How can he reveal his master's will, if he deforms his rule? How is he to appear as God's mouth, if be do not declare what God has said; and that in such a manner as not to be mis­understood though it might be perverted? Ministers of the gospel ought to do as some people engage to do in the most solemn manner-they ought to speak the truth, all the truth, and nothing but the truth. To do otherwise is to beguile unstable persons, betray the gospel, and perjure their own souls. Characters ought to be distinguished: we find God has distinguished them, and to their respective characters, he has affixed promises and threatenings. To separate, therefore, the righteous from the wicked--to point out their different relations, characters and ends-to represent the preci­ous promises of the gospel to the spiritual family, toge­ther with their privileges, duties, and blessings; and also to show the sinner his awful state, the threatenings of the bible, and the certainty of their application, is doing the work of an evangelist, and making full proof of the ministry. The precious is thus separated from the vile, the chaff is fanned from the wheat, the floor is purged, and the axe is laid to the root of the tree. Hypocrites are detected, formalists are roused to en­quiry, the humble repentant is encouraged, while Im­manuel is glorified, and the preacher appear as God's mouth.

 As I cannot examine every passage of scripture which is opposed to the subject of enquiry, I must class them under their respective heads: and first, I argue from all those passages of scripture which set forth the nature and communication of grace, by rain and dew. Deut. xxxii. 2. 2 Sam. xxiii. 4. Psal. lxxii. 6. Isa. xviii. 4.­xxvi. 19.-xxx. 23.-Iv. 10. Hos. vi. 3.-xiv. 5. Mic. v. 7. Zec. viii. 12. Now, respecting rain, God is nowhere said to offer it, but he is said to prepare it. Psal. cxlvii. 8; to give it. Isa. xxx. 23; to rain on one place and not on another, Amos iv. 7. And respecting the word of his grace, he says, " as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven; and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the rower, and bread to the eater; so shall my word be, that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.'  Iai. Iv. 10, 11, 12.

 Now what I have to observe, is as follows:

 1. Jehovah does not make an offer of rain to the earth, neither does he make an offer of grace to sin­ners. If he does, he destroy the similitude which he employs.

2. The earth cannot prepare itself for the reception of the rain, nor can the sinner prepare himself for the reception of divine grace.

3. The earth cannot therefore regulate the clouds of rain by its voluntary action; neither can a sinner. A sinner can no more merit the grace of God, than the earth can merit or purchase the rain; he has no more control over the streams of grace, than the earth has over the clouds of rain.

4. The rain is therefore given freely, without any re­ference to the merit of a soil which is under the curse of God. In like manner, grace is given freely, without any reference to the worthiness of the sinner, who is under the curse of God's law. How can there be any merit in an earth under the curse of its author? and how can there be any worthiness in a race of sinners who are children of wrath? There can be no more in the one than in the other.

 5. Rain is sometimes represented, as being bestowed in strict accordance with the good conduct of the inha­bitants. Lev. xxvi.

4.  Deut. xi. 17. So grace is be­stowed upon the church, his garden, in strict accordance with the work and merit of Jesus Christ. And as the rain, notwithstanding, flow freely unto the ground, so divine grace flow freely unto us. It is free rain unto the earth, and it is free grace unto us. Free grace is guided by full merit.

 6. The rain is not given for the sake of the earth, but for the sake of the husbandman. Grace is not given for our sakes, but for the sake of Jesus Christ, who is the proprietor of his church, and who have wrought all her works in and for her.

 7. Rain is the result of a series of causes. Hosea ii. 21, 22. may be consulted as a compendium of physical theology. Grace is also connected with a series of causes, and Rom. viii. 29, 30, may be referred to as an epitome of revealed religion. The two verses stands thus: "whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be con­formed to the image of his Son, that he, (Christ) might be the first-born among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called; and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified." What shall we say to these things? Shall we say they are very favourable to offered grace? that would be absurd. Shall we say, every person have an opportunity of being saved, and that all may be saved if they will ! this is impossible in fact, and contemptible in speculation. Shall we aver that there is no such thing as predestination to eternal life? we find falsehood mingled with the breath that dares to make the assertion. Shall we say that offering Christ to all, will, of course, alter the predestinating purposes of mercy? the conclusion abhors the prin­ciple. Shall we affirm, that offers of grace, and uni­versal invitations, are not at variance therewith? that would be proclaiming our utter disregard for consis­tency and truth. Shall we say that God is unjust? that would be deforming a principle for the sake of an in­ference. - God forbid. Shall we say that he is wretch­edly partial? that would prove the heart unregene­rate, and un-reconciled to God. Shall we avow that if he predestinated some, he must make the rest with a design to damn them? We do err, not knowing the scriptures. He made man neither to damn nor to save. He made him for his own glory. See Isai. xliii. 7. Rom. ix. 17. Prov. xvi. 4. Rev. iv. 11. Shall we then try to alter and overturn predestination? As well might we attempt to destroy a rock by lashing it with a feather. Shall we then quarrel with our Maker? Hearken to the pro­phet's denunciation. "Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker ! let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, what makest thou ? or thy work, he hath no hands." Isa. xlv. 9. Shall we then commit sin with all greedi­ness? that would augment the torments of hell. Shall we then sit down in sullen despair? this the gospel forbids. But then we have no invitations to encourage us ! The invitations and the promises are to the hungry, thirsty, trembling and seeking soul; and. if this is our character, there is no need to despair, for all things are ours, we are Christ's, and Christ is God's: and if it is not, we neither need nor want them. If we are hungering and thirsting for spiritual things, we owe it to predestinating grace, which planned our safety and pro­vided for our necessities; if we are not, it can be but of little consequence to us, how divine things are dis­pensed. To quarrel with a thing that does not concern us, is ridiculous enough; and to contend with the God of our lives, is to incur his severest rebukes, and to en­sure a place beforehand in the regions of fire and brim­stone. What then shall we say? why, if we say any thing upon the subject at all, let us say, "our God is in the heavens : he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased." Psal. cxv. 3.

 In concluding this article, I must observe, that there is no analogy between the skies pouring down rain, and a person offering the everlasting blessings of free salvation.

 II. Another class of scriptures, are those which are found to connect themselves with the ministry of Jesus Christ. The first I shall cite, is Matt. xiii. 11. " Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given."

When our divine Lord was questioned as to the pro­priety of his mode in addressing the multitude, he assigned as a reason the sovereign bestowments of Je­hovah. The following things are implied in the answer of Christ to his disciples.

 1. That the gospel contains many sublime truths or mysteries. 2. That those sublime truths are above the apprehension of carnal minds. 3. That to know them distinctly and spiritually, is the free gift of God. "To you it is given." 4. That as they were of such a sove­reign nature, they were not offered. The reason why our Lord did not offer spiritual mercies to the multi­tude, was, because they were given to the disciples, and because the multitude had no interest in them. To you it is given, but to them it is not given. Our Lord did not say, because to you the offer is made, but to them it is not made; but quite the contrary. The sentiment is this; covenant interest arises out of divine sove­reignty, and this guides the measures which Jehovah employs in his government of the world. It shows that the gospel is preached for the sake of his people, and that all their blessings flow in the channel of sove­reignty, and are most freely bestowed upon them. And if these considerations governed the conduct of Christ, and prevented him from making a general tender of salvation, ought not the same considerations to shed their influence over our minds in the present day? Are not his purposes still the same? Are not spiritual en­joyments and spiritual capacities, still the free gift of God? Does not Jehovah abide by the same plan, and proceed by the same rule which he always did? Who can deny these things? But if Jesus Christ thought it wrong to make a general overture of mercy, because favour was sovereignly dispensed, by what rule can it be shown that it is right in the present day? When he told his disciples that he had given them an example, did he not mean that they should imitate him? that they should follow him as their pattern? Do not our Lord's language prove to a certainty, that divine fa­vours are given sovereignly as well as freely? and that such a dispensation must necessarily exclude a universal tender of salvation being made? Let the advocates for offered grace, ` take advice, consider of it, and speak their minds.' Judg. xix. 30.

 Matt. xv. 26. But Jesus answered, and said, it is not meet to take the children's bread and cast it unto dogs. It will be readily allowed, that by the children are meant the Jews; and by the children's meat, the ministry of the gospel. It will also be further acknow­ledged, that by the dogs are meant the Gentiles, in dis­tinction from the Jews. I will also further grant, that the phrase was proverbial, and that our Lord did not use his own language, but used a common form of speech, understood by all the Jews, and most probably by the woman, whose place of residence bordered on the Jew­ish nation. Now, though I grant all this, I cannot con­ceive that my argument will be enfeebled, because I have only- to reason from analogy, and from the less to the greater, which will make the inference so much the more weighty and conclusive. I presume no person will say, that the passage yields no allusion to ministerial dis­crimination. For their sakes, no doubt, it was written; and if so, the passage is obviously pointed against the conduct of those who are in the habit of offering grace to all, without exception-inviting all, and throwing the precious promises of the gospel to carnal and un­regenerate characters. But supposing there was no immediate design to instruct the ministers of the gos­pel, is not the argument still very cogent, if we reason from the less to the greater? For if it was not con­sistent to dispense temporal favours to any but God's people, much more to make an offer of salvation to all men without distinction. If the temporal blessings of the gospel were riot to be extended to any but the fa­mily, how are we to conceive of salvation, the food of God's people, as being offered or proposed to every in­dividual? The blessings of the cross are designed for the children, and for them only; to offer them there­fore, to all mankind, is surely to do an unmeet thing. There is no fitness nor propriety in such measures.

 Matt. vii. 6. Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you. Dogs and swine were both unclean creatures under the law. And so abominable were the former, that they were coupled with common prostitutes, and the price of either of them, being brought into the house of the Lord for a vow, was strictly prohibited, on the ground of their being an-abomination to the Lord God of the Hebrews. See Dent. xxiii. 18. The hea­thens, probably, borrowed the custom from the Jews, for historians have remarked, that dogs are excluded from their temples. We find also, that the Jews were to be holy men unto God, and therefore not to partake of an unholy thing. Ye shall cast it too the dogs. See Exod. xxii. 31., It was in allusion to this custom, that Jesus Christ said, it is not meet to cast the children's bread unto the dogs-they live upon unclean things. Carnal men are often compared to dogs and swine, for their surly and filthy dispositions : and the sense is, that the doctrines of grace are not always to be cast before. such characters; and if not, much more grace and glory offered to them. If making a statement of gospel truth, tinder some circumstances, subjects the gospel to reproach, how much more offering Christ under any circumstances? A discerning mind must perceive the cheat, and deservedly despise such mea­sures. Mr. Poole observes, ' the precept doubtless is general, directing the ministers of Jesus Christ to ad­minister the holy things with which they are entrusted, only to such as have a right to them, and under prudent circumstances, so that the holy name of God may not be prophaned, nor they run into any needless danger.' But I will not conceal what some take to be the true idea contained in the words; it is this, ` our Lord was upon the subject of reproof, and it is best to consider the passage as bearing upon that point.' Admitting this to be true, ministers of the gospel may surely learn something from it; for if reproof is to be administered with so much caution, and with so much regard to suit­ableness of character, much more the blessings of the everlasting gospel.

 "He that hateth reproof," says Solomon, "is brutish." And therefore his advice is, " reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee;" which seems not much unlike the caution which our Lord gave to his disciples on the mount. But to offer salvation to all mankind, without any distinction of character, is as useless as it is absurd. You might offer a casket of jewels to a herd of swine, but we should think, with Solomon, that it would be ridiculous enough to suppose that they would put them in their snout. Prov. xi. 22. And, query, is not a preacher of great talent, who offers Jesus Christ to all, and who invites all, without distinction, to come to Jesus Christ-who cast his pearls before swine, and give that which is holy unto the dogs ; is not such a person something like Solomon's fair woman, without discre­tion? You may offer a chest of diamonds to a herd of swine; but the brutes would make no more of them than a heap of pebbles; and no doubt, would prefer a pailful of grains to either. You may offer them a limpid stream and a bed of roses, but their swinish dis­positions would guide them to a dunghill, and as a lux­ury, would lodge them on the easy soil of a quagmire, or in the more agreeable centre of a goodly portion of uliginous matter. You may offer a fountain of blood, and a safe repose to sinners, but they know not their worth, have no disposition for them, and prefer the filthy slough of iniquity to the purifying grace of God. And you can no more turn sinners into saints, by offer­ing salvation to them, than you can turn swine into men by offering them human food, raiment, and orna­ments. You may also dress a dog in human attire, place it at the table with the family, but you cannot teach the sagacious puppy to use a knife and fork. True, you may learn it many pretty things, and some of the family may be very fond of such amusing ani­mals, and may think it a very great piece of severity to keep them from the table, or to close the door against them. But, notwithstanding all the fondness that may be shown, and all the efforts that may be made to trans­form them into children, and entitle them to an inhe­ritance by heir-ship, they will still retain their own na­ture, and will never be admitted to the celestial world. The gates will be opened for none but the ransomed of the Lord-who do his commandments, have a right to the tree of life, and will enter in through the gates into the city. “Without will be dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and who­soever loveth and maketh a lie." Rev. xxii. 14. 15. Give not that which is holy unto dogs, neither cast your pearls before swine. Let Christians-and ministers listen to this salutary. caution, and study well the order, fit­ness, and propriety of things.

 John vi. 60. Many therefore of his disciples, when they heard, said, this is an hard saying: who can hear it. It will be observed, that our Lord had been talking about divine sovereignty in the disposition of eternal things. He told the Jews, that though they bad seen him, and did not believe, yet, all that the Father had given to him should come unto him, and in no wise be cast out-ver. 37 : and that it was his Father's will, that of all which were given to him, he should lose none, but should raise it up at the last day-ver. 40. That no man could come unto him except he was di­vinely drawn-ver. 44; but when drawn to believe on him, had the evidence of everlasting life-ver. 47. That he gave himself for the life of the (elect) world-ver. 51: and, that except a person lived on him by faith, that person could have no spiritual life in him-ver. 53. This offended even those that professed attachment to him; they said it was a hard saying, and past all en­during. They hinted, that if it was food, it was hard of digestion; and that if he preached such high things, and such hard things, they could not hear him, nor did they think any body else could. And we are told, that from that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. Now, from the conduct of our Lord, and of some of his disciples, we learn the following things

 1. That divine sovereignty in the plan of grace, ought to he preached FIRMLY and FULLY. If it was right in our Lord to preach it, how can it be wrong in his ambassadors to do so likewise ? Because some people have handled it injudiciously and intemperately, seem no justifiable reason why it should be doomed to lie in eternal concealment. If some persons have in­discreetly exposed a burning candle to the winds, in­stead of keeping it in their lanterns, or allowing it to remain under a sheltering roof, that is no reason why candles should be condemned for ever after to burn under a bushel. A prudent person would still keep it in the candlestick and on a table, that they which come in might see the light. Nor would a sober disin­terested person ever censure such judicious measures, consider the man a mischievous idiot, endeavour to fix the brand of infamy upon him, and then expose him as a monument of absurdity, to be pointed at by the finger of folly. The doctrines of the gospel are doctrines of sovereignty; and though some persons have mistaken them, and others may have abused them, a good minis­ter of Jesus Christ may nevertheless make a prudent use of them. He may, and he ought to preach them, soundly, soberly, solemnly, and frequently. They are the light of the church, for grace cannot flame without sovereignty. Salvation without sovereignty, is like a lamp without oil, or a candle without a wick. The plan of grace was lit up by affection, and flames in one un­ending stream of immutable sovereignty. The doc­trines of the gospel ought, not to lie hid under a bushel, but to be exposed in the christian ministry. And surely ministers of the gospel may follow the example of Christ, his apostles, and the primitive fathers, and yet be allowed to retain, at least, a small portion of general good sense. It is to be hoped they will be permitted to exhibit the gospel in its sovereign features, without deserving the abuse, the insolence, the reproach, and the calumny that is so liberally as well as gratuitously bestowed upon them.

 2. The gospel in its sovereignty will never be agree­able to carnal minds. Many persons can hear the popular, alias paradoxical sentiment of free grace, offered upon impossible terms, with apparent satisfac­tion: but whenever divine sovereignty is proclaimed, they can scarce forbear expressing their disapprobation. 'This is a hard doctrine, who can hear it? who can be­lieve it? who can swallow it? and if so, who could di­gest it? Such things may serve as a creed for fools, and a repast for idiots; but they will not do for the present advanced state of intellectual improvement. People are more informed; and more refined than they were; and to believe in divine sovereignty, would be an insult to reason, and an imposition on the human un­derstanding.' So reasons the carnal mind that is en­mity against God.

 3. That divine sovereignty is not to be NEUTRALIZED by the addition of offered grace. Sovereign favour and offered mercy can never stand together; nor is the former to be enervated by the latter. Many persons talk half an hour about sovereign favour, and half an hour about general salvation. They resemble a person in the habit of admiring a certain stream, commending its purity, salubrity, and peculiar properties, but who never fail to convey a bag of poison into the spring before he concludes: this, if it do not render the stream prejudicial, must certainly make its medicinal qualities weak and inefficacious. A person may do as much harm in five minutes, as he can do good in seven years. Offers of grace, and general invitations thrown into a free grace sermon, never fail to mar its beauty, change its colour, and destroy its influence-. In fact, it con­verts the gospel from a healing stream into a poisonous river, and makes it the instrument of death, as well as the means of life. Persons thus acting, can no more be thought honest and sound in spiritual things, than a person who poisons a spring while he is commending its stream. If he acts agreeable to his judgment, in offering and tendering Christ to all that hear him, he can be no more sane (in spiritual things) than a person who verily believes that he is benefiting all mankind, by pouring a poisonous preparation into a salubrious spring, designed for the benefit of a certain neighborhood. But the congregation would not be satisfied with such doctrine, the whole place would be up at arms, and many of our own members would entirely forsake our ministry, and go elsewhere. We, therefore, deem it prudent to pursue temperate measures, and not to force people from our ministry. We think conciliatory plans are to be preferred, seeing they have a tendency to unite and keep together societies, which otherwise must be disorganized, dismembered, and destroyed.' It is very marvelous, that if this ingenious mode of reasoning is just; that it should not have occurred to him who was ' of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord. But he thought no such things, he took no such steps, for we find, ver. 34, that the Jews murmured: but did that induce him to alter his strain of ' declamatory folly? It did not : for he repeated the galling truth, that no man could come unto him without divine as­sistance. In ver. 52, it is said, ' they strove among themselves.' The truth was the occasion of a great deal of contention. Did this influence him to adopt healing measures at the expense of truth? It did no such thing: for he told them in very plain language, that except they received his flesh and blood, as spiri­tual food, they had no life in them -they were dead in trespasses and sins. These things produced a nestling even among his disciples, who thought they were not such nice, smooth, soft, gentle and conciliating things as he might have preached. They wanted something as soft and plaintive as sighing zephyr; something like offered grace, an opportunity for all mankind to be saved, and a pressing invitation for every person to come to Christ: ie. to tun without legs, fly without wings, see without eyes, handle without hands, breathe without air, cry without a voice, and talk without a tongue; and to do all these things while they are with­out hope, without life, and without God in the world!!!! But their teacher adopted no such expedients. He adhered to no such inconsistencies. He preached the gospel in its sovereignty, and calmly asked his disciples if that offended them. He knew it did, and knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and therefore said, "no man can come unto me, except it were given him of my Father." See ver.61-65. What­ever they might think of believing with the heart unto righteousness, he represented it as a sovereign favour, brought into the soul by his own power, work or opera­tion. In ver. 66, we are informed, " from that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him." Was he wrought upon by such circum­stances to alter his sentiments, or to hide them in secret? He was not: but coolly asked the twelve "will ye also go away?" Peter answered, "Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life." The doctrines of sovereign grace, will and must be relished, by those who have been apprehended, stripped, and corrected; and who have had their feet made fast in the stocks­ who has heard the angel voice of delivering and abound­ing mercy, saying, "loose him, and let him go-bring forth the best robe and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet., and bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat and be merry: for this my son was dead, and is alive again : he was lost, and is found." See Luke xv. To such as these, the so­vereign doctrines of the gospel will be precious, enrich­ing, and animating: for they are spirit and they are life. But offers of grace are fleshly measures, destitute of energy, and alike unavailable to the living and the dead. As our Lord says, "it is the spirit that quickeneth: the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." Ver. 63.

 Many of the ministers of Jesus Christ, find by pain­ful experience, that peace is of great importance in the church; and every method which bears a healing aspect should be adopted, provided the truths of the gospel are to remain free from implication. But no measures, however desirable they may appear to some minds, ought to be concerted, which would even in a small de­gree, restrain a minister of Christ from preaching the gospel, and all the gospel too, or which would compel him to preach more than the gospel. Discord and an­gry contention will often arise from conflicting opini­ons; but truth must not be sacrificed. The situation of a minister who is encircled by contrary opinions, and placed in the centre of angry collision, must be truly distressing; and must be enough to touch all the strings of agonizing grief, and open the most painful sources of weeping, lamentation, and woe. Could I group such individuals about me, though like a little pigmy on the lofty Alps, I would address them in the following strain.. 'I would say, ' dear brethren, and companions in the path of tribulation, and in the king­dom and patience of Jesus Christ, permit me to address you on the subject of ministerial fidelity. I know your peculiar situations : I know how you have to contend with encircling peril : I know the bribes that are held out, the smiles that you may gain by departing from truth; or by only concealing a part of it: I know the frowns you must incur by abiding in the truth : I am not igno­rant of Satan's devices; nor utterly unacquainted with the weakness of human nature. I weep for you, I pray for you; my heart is melted while I think of you; and all my soul seem dissolved while I am addressing you­ But brethren, suffer the word of exhortation to be spo­ken to you.--Be valiant for the truth, and pursue sober measures. Gird up the loines of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end, for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ: call no man master in spiritual things, but contend earnestly for the faith that was once delivered to the saints. Part with friends, with honour, with ease, with profit, with peace, and with life itself, rather than the truth. Let it not be said, the beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places: how are the mighty fallen ! Let it not be said in your churches, 'there, the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away, the weapons of truth are perished, as though they had not been anointed with oil.' Let it not be said, in elegiac style, ' 0 Jonathan, thou wast slain in thine high places.'-No, you will not. I have great confi­dence in you, through Christ;' you will quit yourselves like men: you will endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ you will endure the cross and despise the shame. Make innocence your shield, and courage will be your friend. You will not permit the truths of the gospel to suffer by your supineness and timidity, remem­bering there is great boldness in the truth; and that without this, Nathan might have been suspended from a gibbet, for the malignancy of his parable, it was his integrity which added boldness to his spirit; he surround­ed himself with truth, and said " thou art the man!" You will not fear to point homewards the language of truth, whether it be preceptory, promissory, or doctri­nal. You will ' watch in all things;' do the work of evangelists, and make full proof of your ministry. If truth is perished from many places, you will be anxious that it may he cherished & in some: and though you can­not do all the good which your expanding minds desire, be active, and do all you can. If your neighbor's lamp is going out, this should make you trim your own with double diligence. If your friend brake his wilder­ness lantern, you will act a more prudent part; and if he suffers it to be took from him, it will make you trebly careful of your own, lest you also should be blind lead­ers of the blind, and all fall into the ditch together. You will remember, that you are but lamps lit up by sovereign grace, to guide to their journey's end a few ignorant and benighted travellers. Let, therefore "your eye be single, that your whole body may be full of light." Let your ministry appear brighter and brighter, with the enriching streams of truth, in simple and pure forms, like a lamp fed by purer oil, and trimmed ex­pertly by a hand more steady and untrembling. Let truth continue in your ministry till the latest hour, till the latest moment, like a candle in the socket-the last flickering ray may have its usefulness, and shed a feeble beam on some enquiring mind. Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty of the children of God ; the conflict will be short as well as sharp. Speak the truth in righte­ousness, and approve yourselves to every man's consci­ence in the fear of God. The Judge standeth at the door-behold I come quickly. Think of what your Sovereign has promised, " be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life."

 "Finally, brethren, I conjure you by all that is sacred in the gospel, by all the seriousness of dying, by all the solemnities of the judgment day, by all the unknown grandeurs of eternity, by every consideration that can influence and guide your minds, whether in heaven, earth, or hell; whether among devils, sinners, saints, or angels, or in Deity itself I entreat, I conjure you, " that ye all be of the same mind, and that ye all speak the same things, that ye all hold forth the form of sound words; in all things chewing yourselves a pattern of good works:-in doctrine, shewing uncorrupt ness, gravity, sincerity, sound speech, that cannot be condemned. That they who are of the contrary part, may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you." And may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, ' to whom be glory for ever and ever, amen.' Such should be the nature, style, and tone of my ad­dress It would have its exceptions, and pourtray more Vutimental feeling than accuracy of delineation. The reader is requested to be indulgent towards unimport­ant defects.

I might have selected several other passages from the evangelist, -which bear equally hard upon the doc­trine of offered grace, duty, faith, &c. but I forbear. It is hoped that there has been a sufficient number quoted, to show that offered grace, with all its attendants, form­ed no part of the doctrine of Jesus Christ.

I shall only reason from the nature and tone of the apostolic ministry. My design is to show, that in their ministry they never had recourse to offers of grace, ge­neral invitations, and sundry other notions, as popular in the present day, as they were unknown in the apos­tles.' That they knew nothing of offered grace, is proved two ways, presumptively and demonstratively: Presumptively, from their sermons, epistles, and historical evidence. We may permit ourselves to think, that there were an exact agreement in point of doctrine, between their sermons and epistles; so that though but few of the former are preserved, yet having several of the latter, which are opposed to the favorite notion of indiscrimi­nate and proffered mercy, we may safely conclude that their ministry was free from such unlovely attachments. We no where read of their offering Christ, and inviting all men to be saved. They no where held out the pre­posterous idea of a remnant being elected, and the rest invited to be saved without an adequate salvation; that is to say, be saved without any salvation at all!! They never told people to put themselves in a posture for conversion; to be ready against God came to regenerate them, or they might eternally miss of heaven. They never asserted, that though God had appointed some to wrath, yet they might all, notwithstanding his decrees, he saved, if they thought proper. That in fact, his purposes were as frail as a transcient impression on the brain-no more than fugitive ideas. Such self-conflicting, and God-degrading thoughts, could never be formed by the Holy Ghost, who exercised his influence over their minds in a very peculiar manner. Their senti­ments were truly sublime, strictly accurate, and ex­tremely unpopular. They held a scheme of doctrine on which public opinion agreed to inscribe disgrace and to condemn with unmingled reprobation. Their sen­timents on sovereign and immutable grace, seem to have been in strict accordance with some of those per­sons in the present day, who, in rude reproach and base design are termed Antinomians. The allegation seems to be precisely the same, for they were slanderous reported to say, “let us do evil that good may come." Rom. iii. 8. Their sentiments were considered as de­structive to moral chastity, and indulgent to human depravity. As loosening all the bonds of moral re­straint, throwing the reins upon the neck of impetuous propensities, and exciting them to iniquity by the most awful and visionary motive-the motive of ensuring good by the commission of evil. Some affirmed that they said, I let us do evil that good may come:' what calumny ! And not content with slanderous report and false assertion, they proceeded to judicial decisions, ap­pointing them in great charity, and in strict accordance with judicial law, a dwelling with everlasting burnings and with devouring fire. They said, their damnation is just. What merciful mistakes unmerciful men some­times make. It was their salvation which was just and merciful. Their damnation would have been wrong, and was therefore impossible. How strange, that men cannot proclaim free grace apart from human worthi­ness, without being reputed Antinomians! But so it is, and so it is likely to be. And as it was in the beginning of the gospel dispensation, so it is now, and probably ever will be, world without end.

 We have, however, the most satisfactory evidence, that they did not offer spiritual things to carnal people, at least, if we may credit their assertions. 1 Cor. ii. 13. contains a fair, full, and un-perplexed statement of their preaching. It reads thus, " which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual." “Or as Bishop Pearce renders, explaining (pneumatikon) spiritual things to spiritual men, Comprehensive Bible.

 Mr. Poole is favourable to the Bishop's translation and Dr. Gill observes, ' which sense the Arabic version favours and confirms.' Now if this witness is true, (and it certainly has that appearance,) we discover at once the nature, mode, object, and usefulness of the apostolic ministry. The nature of their ministry was spiritual. It comprised spiritual things, which they had spiritually received by the Spirit of God; that they might know the things that were freely given to them by God; ver. 12. Which things also they preached in short, they preached among the Gentiles, the un­traceable riches of Christ. The reader will remark, that this was the sort of preaching which they all ex­emplified in their ministerial career. “Which things we also speak." It was not the conduct of a solitary individual, for the pronoun implies plurality and soci­ality. They all received the same doctrine, and were united in their energies, interests and designs. And it may be observed, that they did not conceal what they had received, nor did they substitute any new-fangled notions in lieu thereof: quite the contrary. ' We have,' said the apostle, ' by the good Spirit of our God, received those things that are freely given, which things we also speak.' We are not ashamed of them, have no wish to conceal them, nor any desire to add any thing else to them, in order to make them more suitable to natural appetites, or more agreeable to flesh and blood. The things that they had received, were not offered things, but given mercies. They did not receive them by an effort of human nature, but by the Spirit of God; and by a reception of the Spirit, they understood the things that were freely given, and thus received and preached the truth in the love of it. Now, had there have been an offer, or proposal of advantage to sinners as such, which offer they could either accept or reject, just as they thought proper, the apostle's language ought to stand corrected thus: ( now we have received not the Spirit of God, but grace in our initial state, that we might know, experience, or enjoy the things that are conditionally offered to all mankind.'

 Or thus:- now we have exerted ourselves to know and obtain those things which are generally offered in the gospel, and which all men may enjoy, by calling into exercise the natural endowments of the mind.' Such language would certainly have been suited to the sub­ject of offered mercy, general redemption, undistin­guishing calls, and such like, things; and would have been extremely exhilarating to the leader of perfect bands--the man who formed with a breath, and shook by a nod, the methodistical olympas. Or, if an offer of grace was made to all mankind in the gospel, which could only be accepted by the influence of divine grace, ought not the words to stand thus--' now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely offered to us of God, which offered things we also preached,' &c. This would have been to the point, and must have for ever excluded all controversy upon the subject. It would have prevented it from floating in the regions of uncertainty, or oscillating between conflicting arguments : it must have remained as steady as the poles, and as un-moveable as a rock. But it so falls out, that though it is no where asserted in form, that grace is not offered, nor that all mankind are not invited to Christ, for life and salvation, yet the ideas are indisputably implied, and evidence in their support is to be accumulated from the most fruitful and satis­factory sources. I consider the passage under notice as one of great importance, because it points out the nature and fitness of the gospel ministry.

 To render the apostolic ministry as plain and familiar as I can, I will illustrate it, by placing it in contrast with the ministry of fashionable divinity.

 Free Grace Apostolical ministry.

1. The things that are given.

2. The things that are given freely.

3. Things that are freely given to as.

4. Things that must be cer­tain and sure to all the seed, because freely given.

5. They said the election ob­tained them, and the rest were blinded. Rom. ix.

6. They said it was not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. Rom. ix. 16.

7. They said repentance and pardon were the gift of Christ. Acts v. 31.

8. They said the righteous­ness of Christ was unto all, and upon all them that believe. Rom. iii. 22. This capital doctrine, rising out of divine grace, as freely as water out of a foun­tain, overthrew paganism, and cut the sinews of popery. It is the grand pillar of Christianity.

9. They called saving faith, the faith of God's elect, which was the gift of God. Tit, i. 1. Eph. ii. 8.

10. That the beloved of the Lord were chosen from the be­ginning, through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth. 2 Thes. ii. 13.

11. They asserted that the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither could he know them, because they were spiritually discerned. 1 Cor. ii. 14.

12. They preserved the distinction between will and ability. Rom. vii. 18, 19.

Free Grace Apostolic qualifications.

1. We have received the Spi­rit of God. 1 Cor. ii. 12.

2. We have received spirit­ual information. Ibid.

3. We have been nurtured in the school of Christ. Gal. i. 12.

4. In short, we were qua­lified by God. Eph. iii. 7, 8.

Free Grace Style of apostolic preaching.

1. We speak the wisdom of God. 1 Cor. ii.

2. We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery. Ibid.

3. We convey our doctrine, not in the words which men's wisdom teacheth ; or as the clause is sometimes rendered, in the taught words of human wisdom, but in the taught words of the Holy Ghost.' Ibid.

4. Their speech and preach­ing was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, to gain over natural affections to spiritual subjects, and thus make prose­lytes or converts to their new doctrine and discipline. Ibid.

5. They explained spiritual things to spiritual men. Ibid.

6. They accommodated spi­ritual matter, and conveyed it in a form suitable to spiritual men. They observed discrimination and the fitness of things. Ibid.

7. They did not study to ob­tain the applause of their audi­tory;. by bodily actions, or fine

turned periods. "Their bodi­ly presence was weak, and their speech contemptible." 2 Cor. x. 10. N. B. their scrupulous rejection of the embellishments of the Greek tongue, and their disregard for the rules of rhe­torical posture, would render both them and their addresses weak, effeminate, and contemptible in the esteem of many, where those decorations were highly prized.

There is no reason to con­clude from this scripture, that the apostle was deformed in bodily figure; besides, the fol­lowing verse seem to prohibit the idea, where the pronoun implies the idea of society; such as we are in word, and by letters, &c.

Free Grace Ancient introduction to the ministry.

1. They were put into the ministry.

2. These were put into the ministry by God.

3. These were put into the ministry being counted faithful to it. 1 Tim. i. 12.

Free Will Modern ministry.

1. The things that are offered.

2. The things that are offer­